The Efficacy of a Cefoperazone - Danofloxacin Combination in the Treatment of Subclinical Mastitis in Dairy Cows Caused by Staphylococcus aureus

We report on the effectiveness and profitability of a single-dose intramammary administration of cefoperazone and danofloxacin combination (CDC) against subclinical mastitis in lactating cows. The CDC proved to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), in vitro checkerboard trials. The presence of mastitis examined on the 892 mammary quarters of 223 lactating cows by bacterial cultures and microscopic somatic cell counting (SCC). Selecting the subjects at random from the 223 animals, twenty-two cows (32 quarters) used for treatment and eleven cows (15 quarters) as controls. Milk samples received one week before the start of treatment and on days 0, 14, 21 and 28 of the experiment. Bacteriological cure examined to the treated quarters. Bacteriological cure defined as no signs of S. aureus after treatment of quarters previously confirmed as infected. The SCC remained unchanged 4 weeks after treatment started, but quarters that were cured (spontaneously or by CDC) showed significant differences on days 21 and 28 (P<0.05). There was no S. aureus in 53.1% of the treated quarters with intramammary CDC, while in the controls there was spontaneous cure of the infection in 13.3% of the untreated quarters with significant (P<0.05) difference. These preliminary results suggest the intramammary application of CDC is an effective and profitable therapy in treating S. aureus infection resulting in subclinical mastitis in lactating cows.